MLS midweek roundup

• De Rosario's 100th MLS goal not enough for DC United
• Shalrie Joseph returns to haunt New England Revolution
• Columbus Crew continue charge with late Eddie Gaven winner
• Caleb Porter to take over at Portland Timbers
• Mixed fortunes for MLS sides in CCL group games
• Namoff to sue DC United over concussion effects

Dwayne De Rosario scores his 100th MLS goal for DC United against New York Red Bulls at RFK Stadium. The Red Bulls would tie the game late on, through Wilman Conde's first goal for the club Photo: Brad Smith/ISI/Corbis

So, another busy midweek in MLS: three league games and two Champions League ties; a goalscoring record for a veteran; a one-time hero returns to haunt his former club in a dramatic three goal comeback; another former hero returns to sue his former club; Ohio sends a young coach to the league and a club racing up it. Let's try to make sense of it all...

De Rosario's 100th not enough for DC United

It had been a long time coming, but it looked as if Dwayne De Rosario had chosen impeccable timing to score his 100th league goal - leaping between New York's Holgersson and Gaudette to put DC United 2-1 up with just over 20 minutes remaining. DC fans celebrated ecstatically and with just a few minutes remaining stood to applaud De Rosario as he was subbed off, with DC still leading.

Instead of it being all DeRo's night though, someone else stepped up to break a mini record of their own, as Wilman Conde, revelatory at left back since a shaky first ten minutes against Sporting KC at the weekend, got forward to hammer a 24 yard shot into the top corner, for his first New York goal, on his 30th birthday. In doing so he preserved another more significant record for the visitors - when Joel Lindpere had opened the scoring, via a smart touch through at full stretch from Thierry Henry, New York fans were presumably remembering the stat that has them unbeaten in 50 plus games when scoring first. DC equalized immediately though and an enthralling game could have gone either way, with DC countering at speed and a packed New York midfield seeing a lot of the ball behind a lone Henry, and Cahill continuing to grow in menace.

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After two difficult road games, New York now go on a 17 day hiatus, having at least stopped Sporting KC and DC United gaining ground at their expense. DC meanwhile, left Wednesday night's game knowing they have a real battle on their hands to ensure a play-off spot, as Columbus and the Impact make their moves, while United continue to struggle for results. They'll be hoping DeRo gets started on his next 100 - and quickly.

Bryan Namoff sues DC for medical negligence

It was a challenging day all round for DC United as the Washington Post revealed that former player Bryan Namoff has sued the club and former coach Tom Soehn for medical negligence, for the handling of the 2009 concussion injury that eventually ended his career. Namoff and his wife are seeking $12million - claiming he was not monitored properly after a game against the then Kansas City Wizards, and then rushed back to play just three days later, exacerbating his long term condition. Namoff claims to have suffered from post-concussive symptoms ever since, and to have suffered brain damage, as well as permanent headaches and fatigue, and extreme motion sensitivity.

The action by the long-serving DC United player (only Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno were with the club longer) is an embarrassment for the club, though it is just the latest such case in American sport. Within MLS itself, former New England Revolution striker and current ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman has been particularly vocal on the subject - having been forced to retire from the game early due to repeat concussions, he set up a foundation called Think Taylor, advocating for better education and monitoring. Twellman is the face of the protocols MLS introduced in 2011 to deal with the issue - among other initiatives, every club now has an independent neuropsychologist available to assist team doctors and trainers with testing and closer monitoring.

Of course, concussion is a big issue in NFL right now, with over 3000 players involved in prominent actions against the league about the alleged concealment of the long term effects of head trauma, but when I spoke to Twellman about the Namoff case, he was adamant that it was a persistent problem in soccer:

My first gut reaction is this isn't just a football problem, and the public needs to realize that now. Soccer, the NHL - they've all got them (concussion issues). To be honest, I just hope Brian can get back to something like a normal life, regardless of the case. Every post-concussed athlete I've ever spoken to struggles to some degree.

Joseph returns to haunt the Revs

When Shalrie Joseph scored against the team he'd been the face of last night, there was a round of indulgent applause from The Fort - the home of the main New England Supporters groups. In part it was a classy gesture to acknowledge the long-time contribution of the midfielder to the Revs cause, prior to his recent surprise move to Chivas USA, but in part it was the kind of largesse that comes when your side has taken a three goal lead against a team coming off a 6-2 defeat - in other words the Revs' fans may have seen the goal as unlikely to affect the outcome. But when Joseph added another one in first half stoppage time, before Bolanos scored an equalizer less than two minutes into the second half, the Revs suddenly found their own shortcomings under the microscope.

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In the Revolution's last two games they've scored six goals and conceded seven - in one game they let a two goal lead slip, in another one a three goal lead. This side seems to lack conviction. Chivas? Well they did concede six to Seattle at the weekend, but they've also now scored five in their last two games - which for a side who have struggled to score goals all season, is pretty remarkable. That said, while this comeback will certainly give them confidence, the fact that their goalscoring form has arrived at the moment their defense has deserted them, doesn't really advance their cause and despite their games in hand, they'll need a miracle not to be joining the Revs on the outside of the play-offs looking in.

Higuain keeps driving Crew renaissance

One side with their eyes firmly on a play-off spot is the Columbus Crew, who picked up another road win last night to move within two points of DC United and Chicago Fire in 4th and 5th in the East, with a game in hand on DC. Like Chivas, the Crew's platform for the season was defensive-minded solidity and briefly, an unlikely efficiency at converting very limited numbers of chances. But the arrival of Higuain and Arrieta has transformed that. The latter's leading of the line has been driven by the assists and dead balls of the former, and alongside them Duka and Gaven have looked liberated to get forward themselves. It's made the Crew a little less stable at the back as a result (see their wild 4-3 win over New England last weekend), but they won't care too much while they're winning and hitting form at the perfect time of the year.

Last night, at PPL Park, defender Josh Williams stepped forward to take his share of the attention - heading his first MLS goal to equalize Valdes' opener, off a Higuain free kick, before getting himself thrown out of the game in the 68th minute. Despite his ejection, the Crew not only held on, but stole the points in stoppage time via Gaven.

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The Crew are now unbeaten in five, while the Union are winless in five. Had they won last night they'd have been eight points back from the Crew with a game in hand - still a huge margin to overhaul, but the 14 point gap extinguishes the Union's faint hopes of troubling the play-off places and they travel to the Revs at the weekend for what is now a battle of also-rans. The Crew though, suddenly find themselves in striking distance of the play-off spots, and an intriguing tie with the similarly streaking Montreal Impact this weekend. Both teams are on 39 points, but the Crew have three games in hand.

Caleb Porter gets the nod at Portland Timbers

Another Ohio resident moving upwards is Caleb Porter, who will be leaving the soccer program at the University of Akron, which he had turned into an unlikely powerhouse, to take over the vacant coaching spot at Portland Timbers. Porter is one of the most admired young coaches in the US - players who've played for him love him and his record on developing young players is pretty remarkable (in the 2011 SuperDraft five of the first eight players selected were Akron products - including the mercurial Darlington Nagbe, who Porter will now link up with). So what's the catch? There may not be one - it depends on whether Porter's ill-fated Olympic qualifying stint with the U-23 national team earlier this year, was as a result of him just following orders. Certainly Jurgen Klinsmann has been keen on encouraging a 4-3-3 formation throughout all age levels of the national teams, and that was the formation that bombed out of qualifying under Porter.

On balance the positives should way outweigh the negatives and it's an appointment many fans were calling for after John Spencer's departure. The 37 year old Porter will continue to coach Akron for the rest of the NCAA season, before heading to MLS to join a bevy of young coaches, all under 40, including Ben Olsen, Jason Kreis, Jesse Marsch, Jay Heaps and Martin Rennie - almost a third of the total coaches in a rapidly transforming league.

CCL roundup: Toronto lose to a familiar foe; unfamiliar LA side win

Speaking of transformations, LA Galaxy played a very unfamiliar side against Puerto Rico Islanders in the CCL - of the regular starters only Hector Jimenez appeared in the line up. Puerto Rico had stunned the Galaxy 4-1 in a qualifying game for this tournament a couple of years back, but Bruce Arena clearly saw that as an aberration, as he fielded his reserve side for this game. His decision was vindicated when Meyer, Villareal, McBean and Stephens scored in a comfortable 4-0 victory at the Home Depot Center - Villareal in particular confirming his status as one to watch.

Meanwhile, LA's conquerors in last season's quarter final met their own semi-final conquerors at BMO Field. Toronto must be sick of dramatic denouements with Santos Laguna - earlier in the year a bench-clearing fight marred the end of their home leg in the CCL semis, while last night, two late goals saw them lose 3-1 to a Santos side who now top their group with six points. The tie Toronto held going into the 90th minute, thanks to Quincy Amarikwa's equalizer, would at least have kept them level with Santos, but now having played both their home games, Toronto face a struggle to progress.

Meanwhile Seattle and Houston are both back in CCL action tonight - both have road trips. Seattle face Caledonia AIA in Trinidad and Tobago, while Houston must go to Honduras to face Olimpia.